A somewhat random record of observations of what's happening around Lake Wicwas. I hope to post about once a week - your comments are welcomed.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

February 16, 2014

The Wicwas Olympics are here.

Another serious dump of snow gifted us with over a foot on Thursday, making for a sweet Valentine's Day with some epic New England skiing on Friday, and will serve the region well for the upcoming vacation week. 2014 is looking like a good year for the ski industry.

Spear Peak at Ragged Mountain

Unfortunately a bit of sleet mixed in at the elevation of Lake Wicwas which put a little crust in the middle of the snow pack. This made for some noisy snow shoeing, and difficult skiing in the woods, but the skiing on the lake was great. We took a snow shoe trip in the Hamlin-Eames-Smyth area on Saturday, and were happy to follow a snowmobile track for a good ways. The sticky snow made for beautiful winter scenes even though it was an overcast day with flurries in the air.

Old Stanton Road

Along the way we discovered that the otters were partaking in the winter olympics, competing in the bobsled events. We saw some olymipic-length otter slides, going right across the Blue Trail around the Beaver Ponds.

Otter Slides

We followed them a bit, as they wound under trees and around stumps, forming a pretty nice bobsled run.

They would slide a good 30 yards along a downhill grade without a foot print to be seen. Then on the flats, a few pushes with their feet kept them moving while still sliding on their bellies.

We crossed their path again, this time where they were heading back up towards the upper beaver pond, now having to climb. Maybe rather than the bobsled, it is more like the Otter Winter Wild - up hill and down!

Back closer to home I saw the bobcat had visited again. It came through the yard looking for tasty morsels around the birdfeeder, and then ran all the way across the cove in the wide-open to Sheep Island. A dusting of snow Saturday night covered up all the tracks, so we now have a fresh canvas to go out and see what happens next.

A few more snow storms and there won't be any place left to put the snow - the piles are already getting high! (Happy B-day, DP)